Dinner Plans: Week 52

It’s Week 52 of Dinner Plans and we're spending it in SoCal for Christmas!

While we're in Southern California spending time with family and visiting a few friends, I wanted to take this moment to say "Thank you" for your readership and support this year. I hope the holiday weeks ahead are filled with all that you desire, including delicious food!

While we're away I took time to take stock of what we received in our latest Stepping Stone Farm delivery. Since our CSA boxes are prepaid I wanted to make sure we picked it up and had a game plan for preserving produce for when we return home.

Seasonal Cooking Tip: Freezing Produce for Later

Knowing that we have travel coming up and a CSA box to pick up this week prompted me to think about how we preserve foods for later when travel is involved. Here's my fool proof method:

1. Wash and Prep Produce: For greens like kale and spinach, wash and trim leaves from stems. You can give the leaves a rough chop before adding them to a freezer safe bag and storing in the freezer. This makes it easy for quick sauté greens, add them to soups, or blend into smoothies. For my root veggies, I'll peel and trim them. Next, I'll dice them into chunks then add them to a freezer safe bag or container. This is usually done with beets and butternut squash.
2. Label Container with Item Name and Date Before Freezing: Don't forget to label and date the containers or freezer bags before freezing. This helps to keep track of what you have and when you froze it. Most produce items can be frozen anywhere from 6 to 12 months. Since we're traveling, I've got a note to make sure I start consuming the produce we've frozen when we're back in the New Year.

PS: don’t forget to check out Part I and Part II of my Pantry Essentials Series for more tips and recommendations for keeping a well stocked pantry ahead of the holiday season.

Dinner Plans for the Week

This week's Stepping Stone Farm CSA is filled with leeks, beets, carrots, and so many lovely early winter greens. I'm washing and chopping greens to store in their own freezer friendly bags. I'll use them for soups, stews, and sautéed dishes rather than salads. Given we're freezing the greens this will be a better way to enjoy them since they will wilt a bit upon defrosting. This will help inform the menu options when we return home, too.

I diced the beets into chunks and will use them in smoothies. I can also roast them from frozen with carrots and have this on hand for a side dish along side a roasted protein.

This being said, this week's menu offers inspiration for what we'd make with the produce if we were home this week. Much of the week will be spent dining out but next week's Dinner Plans will highlight the dishes I'm making once we're back home.

Here’s what we picked up for our CSA shares this week:

Stepping Stone Farm:

• Japanese heirloom braising grens
• Golden Beets
• Carrots
• Red Frills Mustard
• Leeks
• Blue Kale
• Minuet Chinese Cabbage (kimchi time!)

Our Game Plan for Dinner this Week:

Sunday: Delicata Squash Salad with Roast Turkey Tenders

Monday: Kimchi Fried Rice with Crispy Marinated Tofu and Stir Fry Veggies

Tuesday: Christmas Eve Dinner with my Family

Wednesday: Christmas BBQ with Chicken, Tri-Tip and all the sides

Thursday: Grated Beet and Carrot Salad with Roast Chicken

Friday: Braised Kale and with White Beans and Croutons

Saturday: Pizza with Butternut Nut Squash, Burrata, and Crispy Prosciutto

From favorite recipes to new things with a wide variety of ingredients, cooking delicious food with our CSA definitely gets us out of a dinner rut and reduce food waste. I share meal ideas for our busy weeks with our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to be in the know when they’re live. 😉